OCR Text |
Show : w: ' I l?! f " 'TXT It! , 1 "'J ' 1 (BW: JLL JJL Park City, Utah 25 Vol. VI, No. 34 Thursday, May 7, 1981 2 Sections, 20 Pages Lt . ' :'rX y v J. .: ' f'' j' . ' I f , . ,, f I i ti x.v ' . I . v ' Drug charges dropped, but probe goes on Federal District Judge Aldon Anderson Ander-son dismissed all charges Monday against 26 individuals that allegedly were part of a cocaine distribution ring that ranged from Park City to South America. Anderson moved to dismiss the federal grand jury indictments after the prosecution's key witness, Corky Foster, refused to testify against 17 of the defendants, several of who are from Park City. The Park City resident originally had agreed to testify against the defendants in return for a plea bargain agreement. He reversed his decision to plead guilty to lesser charges last Friday before U.S. District Court Judge David K. Winder. Winder now has reinstated the original two-count charge of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. Foster, who was arrested last August, will stand trial before Judge Winder, along with former Park City residents Allan Savage and Sheila Jones, who were indicted by the same grand jury. The investigation into the alleged ring was conducted by narcotics agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Ski slope erosion may be in check Structures built last year to control erosion on Bald Mountain seem to be doing their job. This word comes from Wasatch County Planner Bob ' Mathis, who criticized the Deer Valley Resort last August for cutting runs on the Wasatch County side of Bald Mountain without receiving the required permits. At that time. Mathis expressed concern that erosion control measures taken by the company were inadequate to prevent sediment from finding its way into Deer Creek Reservoir. The reservoir supplies culinary water to Salt Lake and Utah Counties. Deer Valley took steps to correct the problem, installing water bars across the newly-cut runs and building a $275,000 detention structure to trap sediments before they could reach nearby McHenry Creek. According to Deer Valley spokesman Steve Dering, the structure had been planned originally, but was enlarged in response to Mathis' objections. Dering said a total of six lakes or retention structures will be built in Wasatch and Summit Counties. During a recent tour of the Bald Mountain runs, Mathis reviewed the measures taken to control the soil loss. "I was impressed with how well the runoff was being handled on the face ol Bald Mountain facing Keetley," Mathis told The Newspaper. He said the water bars were I" Administration, as well as state agencies. At the time of Foster's arrest, Public Safety Commissioner Larry Lunnen said undercover agents had been working in Park City for more than two years, and that more than 10,000 man hours had been invested. Cocaine with a street value of $250,000 had been purchased as part of the investigation, he said. Does the dismissal of the indictments mean the end of the investigation? "Definitely not," said Del Morensen of the Utah State Liquor Law Enforcement Enforce-ment Agency Wednesday. "The is just a temporary setback. It's up to the U.S Attorney to orchestrate the state and federal strategy from here on out. "At this point, I can't speak in detail, but we are on firm ground even yet," he continued. "This investigation is still very much active. There is nothing preventing us from going forward at a future date with all 17 defendants. The only thing that would have prevented us if they had gone ahead with the prosecution. "Our investigative efforts are ongoing. on-going. We haven't been sitting still." used to divert the runoff away from the center of the runs and funnel it either into controlled channels, or into undeveloped forest areas. He describes the water bars as horizontal shelves of soil, built at varying intervals depending depend-ing on the slope of the runs. Mathis said the detention basin, built at the junction of McHenry Canyon and Pocatello Gulch, about 2!? miles west of U.S. Highway 40, was designed to hold the runoff for 24 hours to allow the sediment to settie. "The detention structure is filtering out a large part of the load." Mathis said. "However, the really fine material still goes down McHenry Creek." McHenry Creek lows eastward from Bald Mountain towar I Hailstone, where emp'x's into ar, her reservoir origii hi out ... i ut of thai p sediment coming I 'ie water coming till clear," Mathis -aid. The Park City engineering firm of J..1. Johnson and Associates has been hired by Deer Valley to test the clarity ol the water. "They are iilso doing some very sophisticated chemical analysis," Mathis said. "The absolute measure-!i-;iNol those things will ri; (ermine the . ". elivenesa o1 'he structures." Hasitch County also is ; king that Deer Valley reseed the runs and add t.iui. on slopes between .Ci and 50 Muckers and Motorcycles: It may still be snowing outside, but don't take it too seriously. Two sure signs of spring are the first rugby game and the first crowd of Harleys outside the Alamo Saloon. - , i 4 - r 1 I - 1 I ( 1 j II 1 4 fT . ' li 1 . fK " J--L I! 4 i.v ; , M : li hMf crp. in i & ( V... . fmt kvL, J i At Coalville meeting Kamas tax rebels discuss legal Former Summit County Commissioner Dale Leavittt said Tuesday he is considering con-sidering legal action to challenge the 1980 county-wide reappraisal of private property. Leavitt, one of a number of residents of the Kamas area who refused to pay their 1980 property taxes, revealed that he has sought legal advice about forcing for-cing the state to adjust the assessment levels used in the recent revaluation. Last November, eight taxpayers from the Kamas area wrote a letter published in The Newspaper calling for residents to withhold their property tax payments until they received a satisfactory explanation for individual increases, which ranged as high as 1,200 percent. Among the signatures on the letter were those of Leavitt and another Kamas resident, Phillip Mitchell. Mit-chell. Since that letter was made public, the BoM heari raws o A standing-room-only crowd flooded into the Memorial Building last Thursday night for the second public hearing to discuss a proposed city bond for up to $8 million. But it was quite a different group than appeared at the first meeting March 26. By the end of the evening, the majority of the 30 people who stepped up to the microphone to speak their mind said the projects sounded feood, but paying for them didn't. Their sentiments seemed to be echoed by most of the 100 or more residents at the meeting, who applauded the "tighten our belts" philosophy. The attitude at last week's meeting was in stark contrast to the March 26 hearing, where speakers enthused for more than two hours about the proposed projects. Thursday night's meeting opened with a brief description of each of the project's by City Councilwoman Tina Lewis. Included are the renovation of the Miners Hospital into a public library and improvements to City Park for a combined total of $2 million; a field house to be constructed in conjunction with the school district as part of the proposed Middle School, that, with equipment, would cost $1.6 million; and a multi-purpose arena that could be used for ice skating, conventions and concerts for $4.4 million. Charts taped to the walls showed how much property taxes would rise if single projects were approved by the voters. If all projects were approved, the tax increases ranged from $142 a year for a house in old town with an assessed valuation of $9,000, to $390 per year for a Thaynes Canyon home with an assessed valuation of $25,000. "I'm sure there are some who would like to see all three projects in the city," said Mayor Jack Green, before inviting public comment. "Some people will just group has won several concessions from state and local governments. But those concessions have had little or no impact on the 1980 taxes paid by most residents of Summit County. Leavitt and Mitchell met Tuesday with Utah Tax Commission Chairman David L. Duncan and the three members mem-bers of the Summit County Commission to discuss how assessment levels could be reduced county-wide. "We're not representing a particular group," leavitt said. "We're representing represen-ting the homeowners of Summit County." Coun-ty." Duncan was reminded that a number of counties in Utah have successfully challenged figures used by the Slate Tax Commission in the recent factoring up process ordered by Gov. Scott Matheson. The group is asking that Summit County be given the same opportunity op-portunity to negotiate assessment levels. eg position want one, some none. Let us know exactly how you feel." In addition to comments about the projects, the council asked residents to specify how they would like to see the projects appear on the ballot either as one package, or separated into several options. Col. Jim Piper began by saying he feared taxes would double in the next two years. He took exception to the arena, saying "I don't think it's right for city government to use taxpayer dollars to go into direct competition with private industry." While he said the other projects were "nice," he said they weren't "necessary." "necess-ary." He suggested the issues be separated on the ballot, then closed with, "I hope everyone in town votes it down." Resident Tom Hurd, who has been a vocal opponent of the projects in the past, said "I'm against each and every one of them. I don't think we need projects to force people who want to stay here out of town. It's a lovely idea, but we don't need it." Senior citizen Emma Ruggles pointed out that the "Top leaders, the church, the government say cut taxes. Park City says make taxes. I'm talking for the low income residents. I can pay your taxes but many of my friends can't. And then there's the handicapped. handi-capped. They can't afford this I don't see why it should go on the ballot at all." Other residents were not opposed to the expenditure of the money, but the projects proposed. Former City Treasurer Trea-surer Bruce Decker suggested the city use the money instead for road improvements, water lines, development develop-ment of new water sources, and the acquisition of property for open space. But between protests of "too much" did come pleas of "not enough." Middle School physical education teacher Don "AH we want is for Summit County be given a fair deal along with the rest of the counties," Leavitt said. Duncan pointed out that local taxpayers tax-payers were given two chances to appeal ap-peal their property assessments. "We would be at a loss, at this point, legally, to do anything short of the courts deciding that our assessment was wrong," Duncan said. "I could go back and have our sales data analyzed. We reviewed that data after our hearing a few months ago. The staff has told me it's right. Short of that, I don't know if I can do anything." Leavitt wondered if the data could be released to a committee representing the group or to local officials. "When we gather that data, we tell people it is confidential," Duncan said. "Perhaps we could develop something to share with you that wouldn't destroy the recruitment process." Duncan explained that sales ratio in Johnson said the proposed gymnasium at the Middle School is essentially the same size as the facility they now use, which is inadequate, he said. "To improve that situation, it's essential that the field house go through. In the face of all this opposition, I'd like to support it." Friends of the Library President Marlene Ligare emphasized the importance impor-tance of that project, adding "from the input tonight, I feel the library should be separated from everything else!" She also supported the park improvements improve-ments so her children could "get off their bottoms and on their feet." "And I'm in favor of the field house I'm more than happy to pay to have those facilities in Park City." " School board member Gary Avise reminded the audience that the city had an opportunity to save money on the field house project by joining forces with the district. "There are no architectural fees or property acquisition acquisi-tion by the city," he said. A host of Middle School students lined up at the microphone to support the field house project. Jay Worley noted that the field house, library and park "would be good because it would keep the kids off motorcycles, which causes troubles for the police." Pam Finnegan and Jennifer Lewis said the field house would give students more playing room, and the arena would help bring more business to Park City. Mike McComb noted that larger cities have football and soccer leagues, which could be a possibility if there were a field house for bad weather seasons. He also approved the arena, then added, "I don't care about the park and library." Senior citizen Nan McPolin tried to change the young McComb's opinion by saying the library could show films of sporting events. She added that Hearing to 3 action formation was obtained from sources such as financial institutions, title companies com-panies and real estate offices. According to Sumrrit County Clerk Reed Pace, about 10 percent of the county's property taxes were not paid by the Nov. 30 deadline, up from about five percent in 1979. Pace indicated that a number of other taxpayers paid under protest. Leavitt and Mitchell were told that those protests are meaningless unless some legal action is taken on their behalf before June 1. Leavitt indicated that a lawsuit against the state was being considered. However, he said he was reluctant to take such a step. "We don't want to do that," Mitchell added. "It takes a lot of time and a lot of money. And we'll gain a-reputation we don't want." Duncan told the group he would meet with his staff and review the sales data within the next few days. |